A non-title title because my creativity is lacking

While many of my recent blog posts have been about just happy being running and not worrying about racing, I haven't really discussed my actual runs too much. Well, there really hasn't been much to report. My runs have been shorter, but I feel like I've stepped up my intensity.

My runs have generally been around 8:30 to 9 minute mile paces, which is going at a pretty good clip for me considering I'm not training for anything. Maintaining that pace is key to what I would want to do in a 5k whenever that happens again, with the general thinking of what I've done in the past with races being a minute or so quicker per mile. I've been running between 3 and 4 miles, and focusing on getting more mileage with my dog. He's gotten up to about 2 miles comfortably on top of a walk or two every day. I don't really want to make him a runner for beyond 2, maybe 3 miles, but he has tons of energy to burn off. He's only 3, so now is a great time to make this part of his routine.

Lastly, for those of you continuing to train for long-distance races this fall, I just wanted to say that I hope you are really having a great time out there. Since I went through marathon training last year, I have a lot of respect for those who choose to tackle 26.2 miles. For those of you doing it for the first time, you'll understand what I'm saying once you do it.